Best Integrated for SF Signum?

Hi Ken: I purchased the DAC without the new mods. I will wait for the dust to settle on the updated version before I consider the upgrade. The buzzwords "increased dynamics" do not do a lot for me as I would have to listen to why this is so and wonder if it is at the expense of smoothness. The smooth detailed sound and accurate (IMO) pitch, attack and decay is what first attracted me to the Bel Canto, other than the price. For example I prefer the sound of my stock (other than an upgraded PC) CAL Icon II to that of the later models (it sounds more musical to me). I will post in a month or two when I feel that I have it well integrated into my system. I will want to experiment with isolation devices and IC's as well, which take some time. Although I have only listened to your speakers once at a dealer, I liked them a lot. Small boxes with big quality sound always get my attention. I did not give them a lot of thought because they cost as much as my entire system. The bass that they did have for their size was also very nice, not "bumped" up like on many other small moniters and I could distinguish low electic bass notes (by pitch) just short of the low "E" in that listening room, which was pretty well setup. Anyway, as long as you do not get too wrapped up in the gear (once you get it properly set up, just forget about it for a while and enjoy the music), hard to do I know, I am certain that you will have fun with your Signum based system.

Dekay, did you compare with Perpetual Technologiy's P-3A? What do you think about it?

Ken: No I just briefly read what info was available on it. It seemed that the DAC needed to be linked to their optional power supply to give better performance and then there is the room equalizer "thing" that also mates with it plus I understand that the software to actually use the "thing" is not yet available. I may not have gotten all of this straight, but that seemed to be the jist of it to me and the cost for the total system is around $2000.00. I got the impression that the DAC on its own was good but not great and that the "extras" are what makes it desirable. Again, this is just my understanding from doing a quick study and I may have missed quite a few points in my haste. I have no expereience with using outboard DAC's in my system and am really quite new to digital. I have a tendancy to approach it from an anolog point of view because that is what I have always listened to in the past. We have only owned a digital source for six months or so and I took approx. fifteen years off from this hobby and just started again. The only thing that I do have going for me is that I know what sound I do and don't like and do not have much trouble making my mind up on what to buy after the auditioning is over. Not being wealthy really helps to narrow the amount of choices down as well. LOL. After searching here and at Audio Asylum under Dac's you may want to start a thread here for specific info. as there are other DAC's as well that are the talk of the Web. Something called the Millenium from a small company and also not so recently new models such as the Muse DAC 2. Their are also many people that believe that by using a quality preamp section in the link that most better quality digital players will sound very much the same (same meaning very good indeed). This is why I suggested that you may want to wait until you upgrade your amplifier before changing your source as the synergy between the preamp section in your new amp and your current player may be just the sound that you are looking for. Sometimes I feel that we are just sometimes looking for something different and not necesarily better for the sound of our system. By this I mean that the change that you get from the new amp and its synergy with the rest of your gear may be that different sound that you are looking for. Who knows you may then try an "improved" DAC and not like the different "improved" sound. Although I have done just the opposite I think that it is still better to change only one component at a time when upgrading a system for obvious reasons.

Dekay, thank you so much for detailed reply. Like you, I took fifteen years off from this hobby. I was first interetsed in those HT hype, and now I am already sorry I did. Not that HT is wrong, but that I spent too much already for the gear. Yes, I searched all over, too. Your input is now very inspiring. I finally could get approval for speaker upgrade and I don't know when and how I can upgrade another. I should be lucky that I am not wealthy ^^;). I will think about it, and try to calm down my bug. But anyway, my only digital source is a cheap DVD player and I may have to do something about it (I am not sure how good my receiver's internal DAC is). Let me know how you like your new Bel Canto sometime. Thanks again. Ken

You are welcome Ken. I was lucky and did not have to consider HT this time around as we have watched a total of three movies and one BBC sitcom on video in the past nine years. I am not anti HT just glad that I do not have to buy 2+ of almost everything in the system, plus set up more than two speakers, Ugh! Funny thing, we just received a total of sixteen CD's in the mail last night (two shipments) and the only thought that I have put into the system since then is to insert a new CD and adjust the volume. I wasn't even twitching for the new digital cable to arrive today. I would also be interested in listening to the DAC with your player (if I can borrow one locally) to see what that's all about. Guess that I would need a Tos link as well to follow Bel Canto's recommendation. You already have the speakers that you like, I am sure that the rest will fall into place as it seems that you enjoy researching and auditioning equipment.